Secret Base
by momoxtoshiro
Summary: "If you don't give your body some time to recuperate, you'll end up collapsing sooner or later, and how do you think that would make the people who care about you feel? Just...get some rest." HoutarouxEru (Happy Thanksgiving!)


**I haven't written for Hyouka in a little while when this idea popped into my head and I quickly wrote it down. Hope you like it! (Also it's my Thanksgiving gift to you guys!)  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hyouka.**

* * *

Secret Base

Houtarou stood in a secluded corner of the library, aimlessly flipping through the pages of an old book.

Upon catching a whiff of the old, musty scent of the parchment, he let out a long, satisfied sigh as his eyes continued to scan the pages with no particular intent.

It had been 2 days since his record solving of the Juumonji incident, and the troublesome cultural festival was finally out of his way for another year, and though Eru had continued to run about her crazed business as usual, Houtarou had contented himself with a bit of quiet time.

He had always liked this corner of the library, not only for the comforting scent of old books that laced the air, but also for the sheer silence. There was a small table with two chairs, one on either side, beside a large window, surrounded by the tall shelves filled with history.

He hardly ever saw another person here, albeit when he did, he would get defensive and wish them to leave as quickly as possible and not return to disturb him.

It was always a quiet section, and when the background noise of the heater running through the walls was temporarily cut off, the silence was so golden as to cause him to fall asleep before.

Whenever he could avoid the Classics Club, Houtarou would break off to this corner of the library and relax, particularly on the few rare occasions when Eru was absent from school and he felt no obligations to attend club. He did note, however, that she was rarely absent from classes, and whenever she was, it was very slimly because she was ill. _That's for sure. A stuffy nose would never slow down that energetic princess_. He recalled the only time he could remember seeing her sick, yet she had determinedly come to school anyway, whereas Houtarou would personally have made it an excuse to stay home.

Although she did skip school the morning of her hangover from too much whiskey chocolate, every other time she had been missing was due to some important, wealthy family events.

Today happened to be one of those precious, quiet days for Houtarou. Eru had informed the entire club the day before that she would be absent today in order to attend some form of family gathering. After apologizing profusely, she had left them at the gates of the school yesterday evening as the colder air began to blow in and made her long, ebony hair flutter behind her as she pedaled away.

_Wait, why am I focusing so much on that scene?_ Houtarou wondered briefly before erasing the image from his mind.

He had very much enjoyed not running into her, or her quite literally running into him, that morning. The usual, almost irking sound of her high-pitched greeting was absent and his ears got a bit of rest, as did his sanity.

But as the days of her absences expanded in number over the past few months, Houtarou had begun to note the personal changes that affected him. On days like today, although the weather outside was still bright and fairly warm, the clouds still seemed a bit darker, whereas when Eru was present, said clouds seemed to disperse, even during a thunderstorm. The dull coloring of the library used to be what he preferred, but recently the colorful Geology room had begun to prove appealing as well.

Houtarou pushed his thoughts of his troublesome charge aside, reminding himself that it was one of his few rare "days off" from having to deal with her antics.

As he sat down in one of the chairs at the table, he scanned the lines of the book he held without really comprehending the words. His gaze drifted to the window and the outside world, where the trees were beginning to shed their golden leaves.

He must have stayed there for over ten minutes until he heard the disheartening sound of approaching footsteps, a pattern that suggested the person could be headed nowhere else but to Houtarou's corner. He shifted his gaze just in time to stop Satoshi's surprise attack-greeting.

"Yo, Houtarou." His friend said in a low whisper. Disappointment from not being able to jump on Houtarou was a bit too clear on his face. Houtarou blinked once, clamped his book closed with a small sigh and nodded once in reply. "Oh, come on." Satoshi complained, still with a grin. "That's all I get? Has a lack of Chitanda-san made you a bit grumpy?"

Houtarou sputtered on air when those unexpected words met his ears. "What? Why would you even bring that up?" He hissed. "We're in a library so I assumed it best to talk as little as possible." _Since when was a simple nod ruled out as a simple greeting?_

"Okay, whatever." Satoshi sang.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Houtarou grumbled.

"Oh, nothing." The other boy waved it off before changing the subject. "You ready to head home?"

_Well now that you've interrupted my momentary peace, I guess I have no choice._ Houtarou thought, but simply replied with, "Yeah."

He did not think too many other people, particularly students knew about this corner of the library, however Houtarou had led Satoshi there himself one time. It was hardly too much of a problem that Satoshi knew of it, but Houtarou swore he would never let it be discovered by Mayaka, let alone a certain hyperactive club president.

Houtarou got to his feet and put on his jacket, ignoring Satoshi's hushed comment that he was sighing an awful lot more than he normally did when Eru was present.

* * *

The next morning was slightly chilly, and Houtarou shuddered a bit as he walked the path to school, every moment expecting to be jumped by Satoshi.

As his fingers clutched the strap of his bag, his other hand buried in his jacket pocket, Houtarou let out a long yawn that sent a transparent billow of white into the air. _Really? It's this cold already?_ He thought. Whilst the colder seasons were more of an excuse to stay at home indoors, Houtarou could never really take a liking to the drop in temperature.

As he continued to walk, his eyes caught sight of a familiar, tan trench coat accompanied by long, flowing, ebony hair all down her slim back. Not wanting to go through the embarrassing scene of calling out to her, but while also not wanting to be rude, Houtarou decided the best thing to do was quicken his pace by one step as to catch up to her gradually while still not exerting too much energy.

He was wondering if her shoulders seemed a bit more slumped than usual or if it was just his imagination when he finally reached her side.

"Yo." He gave a simple greeting, without looking directly at her just yet. She appeared surprised by his sudden arrival and even jumped a bit with a small gasp. Her eyes seemed to be woken from a droning stare at the ground when those amethyst irises immediately sought out his, before flashing with recognition and delight.

"Ah! Good morning, Oreki-san!" She bowed her head slightly in the politest of ways possible for one who was walking.

"Did everything go well yesterday?" He asked, not wanting to be intrusive while also not wanting to show zero interest in her endeavor. He briefly wondered why he was trying so very hard to be considerate to her when her all-too-familiar voice cut off his thoughts.

"Yes! It went very well indeed! Although I regret missing out on yesterday's lessons, I got to see some people from my father's workplace. In fact, there's a dinner tonight and I'll be attending that as well." The smile on her face was brighter than the sun and Houtarou looked ahead to avoid being blinded.

"I see. That's good." He mumbled, casting his glance sideways again to see her still smiling as she walked beside him.

They continued on in silence for a while, and Houtarou soon found himself walking slower than anticipated. _She must be exhausted_. He noted that her shoulders were definitely slouched more than usual, and she was breathing a bit harder than he thought she should have been. "Hey." He muttered before he could stop himself.

"Yes?" Turning her head to the side, Houtarou fought off his urge to look down.

"Are you-" but before he could finish, he was conveniently cut off by an all-too-familiar voice and an unpleasant impact on his shoulder.

"Hou~ta~rou!" Satoshi greeted loudly. "Good morning!"

"Satoshi-"

"'Morning, Chitanda-san." The boy continued, oblivious to Houtarou's pained shoulder.

"Ah, good morning, Fukube-san." Eru replied with a smile.

As Satoshi took over the conversation with her, Houtarou was pushed off to the side a little, and he glared ahead as Eru's warmth faded from his side.

* * *

The following morning, Houtarou met with Eru at almost the same point in their walk to school as the previous day.

Her greeting was as bright as always, and she did seem truly happy to see him, but Houtarou could not shake the feeling that something was slowing her down.

"Eventful night?" He guessed, remembering the gathering she had mentioned.

"Ah, yes. Quite so." She responded with a small, dry laugh. "There were lots of people to be served, and I was rushing so much, I nearly knocked over a tray of food. Thank goodness that was in the kitchen and I didn't embarrass myself in front of anyone..." She sounded relieved and Houtarou frowned. _Guess being a rich princess has it's downside's as well. _He could imagine Eru running about the house, offering food and drink to guests and fetching them anything they required, always smiling and replying politely and keeping face, no matter how exhausted she truly was. It made him feel tired just thinking about it. _Even at school, she's like that. I wonder what her true self is really like..._

Even yesterday she had been late to the club meeting because she had offered to take care of cleaning duty for a lazy student who wanted to go home early, and then she had offered to run errands for a busy teacher. By the time she had actually sat down in the club room, it was only moments before they headed home. Judging by her appearance now, she must have been up since early this morning, helping to tidy up the house; he would not have been surprised if she had fallen asleep in her formal attire.

Presently, as she walked next to him, her steps seemed to sway a bit and Houtarou was considering offering to carry her bag for her. To anyone else, aside from maybe Mayaka or Satoshi, she would probably appear completely fine, but the Classics Club members seemed to know Eru's diligent and helpful side as a trait that could end up hurting her in some cases.

But Eru tried to never let her dreariness show, always wanting to be of some help to somebody other than herself. To the energy-conscious Houtarou, her lifestyle used to seem borderline idiotic, however he had recently begun to see the reasoning in her motives. _She just wants to help people_. He had concluded.

Once they entered the school, she remained standing as she slipped off her shoes at the lockers, almost as if she knew she would have difficulty getting back up if she were to sit on the bench there. She seemed more and more worn out with each passing day this week and apparently had the perpetual mindset of "just _one_ more day!" To normal people, some mornings were just a "No", whereas Eru seemed hellbent on making every day more of a "Yes! I must!"

Shaking his head in accordance with his thoughts, Houtarou parted ways with her as they went to their classes, still uneasy about the circles under her eyes.

* * *

When Houtarou arrived at the club room that afternoon, he found Satoshi and Mayaka already present.

"Where's Chitanda?" He asked, almost immediately. The other two shared a glance with smirks that caused Houtarou to narrow his eyes in annoyance.

"She was here before for half a second to let us know she would be helping Omichi-sensei." Satoshi explained.

"That girl..." Houtarou muttered.

"I know what you mean." When Mayaka lost her smirk and agreed with Houtarou, he found himself fairly shocked. "Chii-chan has barely sat down for five minutes since the cultural festival began, and even now that's it's over, she's still as busy as a bee. I'm starting to worry about her..."

"Don't sweat it, Mayaka." Satoshi tried to sooth her worries from where he sat across the table. "This is our Chitanda-san, after all. She knows when to give herself a break."

"Yes, but not usually until it's 2 minutes before she's out cold." Mayaka muttered. Houtarou found himself nodding in agreement with her.

Just as he was placing his bag down, the door of the Geology room slid open and a familiar greeting sounded.

"Good afternoon, everyone!" Eru said in her naturally high-pitched voice. "I'm sorry I'm late! I was just running some errands for Omichi-sensei." She explained as she placed her bag on the table nearest her seat. "I actually have to go to the nurse's office at the moment. I just wanted to drop my bag off here. I'll be back in just a few moments." She turned back toward the door before the other three could finish registering her explanation.

Mayaka was first to recover. "W-Wait, Chii-chan, you're going to the nurse's office? Do you need me to take you there?" She offered, pushing back her chair and standing up.

"Hm? Ah, no that's not why I'm going." Eru waved her hands in front of her chest dismissively. "I'm helping her with some documents. B-But it shouldn't take long!" She added the last part on in a way that sounded as if the others were going to be angry with her. Houtarou was just wondering how she had managed to go from helping the math teacher to the nurse before he realized she had whisked her way past him and out of the room.

"Does she ever stop?" Satoshi blinked with a crooked grin.

"Probably not even if you put her in a headlock." Mayaka sighed, sitting back down.

Houtarou was at a loss of what to do. A portion of him wanted to think things like, _If she wants to work herself silly, then let her_, however the rest of him, which was the vast majority, was internally high-strung; he felt like grabbing his hair and shouting at Eru to sit down for more than five seconds.

Instead, he took his seat with a long sigh, pulled out a book, and began reading. Or at least, he tried to read, but there was a spark of annoyance bubbling inside of him that was so troublesome he could not make sense of the text. That spark ignited even more when he realized he was not particularly annoyed at Eru for being the busybody that she was, but at himself for not being able to talk sense into her enough for her to relax for half a minute.

Mayaka and Satoshi engaged in conversation about study methods for an upcoming test as Houtarou fumbled around the words of his book for ten minutes before Eru reentered.

"I'm back!" She announced, sounding a little out of breath but still somehow energetic.

"Good. Now _sit down_." Houtarou mumbled, a little more harshly than he intended to.

Eru heard him and looked stricken, which he mentally smacked himself for. "Y...Yes..." she nodded and walked over to take her seat across from him, beside Mayaka. She rummaged through her school bag and pulled out a large text book and a notebook. Houtarou watched her from the corner of his eye as she began reading and working diligently.

This went on for about another ten minutes until Houtarou was suddenly unable to bear his repeated reading of the same sentence any longer. Eru's concentrated expression did not hide her slumping shoulders or the yawns she was so desperately trying to hide behind her palm, and the spark of annoyance within Houtarou finally burst into flame. He pushed his chair back and slammed his book on the table, making the three other club members jump and turn their questioning gazes at him.

"Houtarou?" Satoshi followed his friend with his eyes as Houtarou walked around the table. "What are you-?"

But Houtarou was not listening to the question. He came to a halt beside the surprised president and stared down into her eyes, something he never thought he would voluntarily bring himself to do. Beyond the slight confusion, he could easily discern the exhaustion lining the amethyst pools, brimming with endless curiosity.

He did not know why he was acting so strangely these past few days, nor why he felt so agitated upon seeing her. Unlike the usual, disheartening feeling he would experience upon the thought of wasting energy, today he had realized that the emotion he felt now was driven by something entirely different, and had to look away from her quickly before the blush showed on his face.

"Oreki-san, what-" Startled, Eru brought her hands up in front of her chest in a flustered manner.

Still unable to believe what he was doing, Houtarou grabbed her wrist, ceasing her motions immediately as she froze entirely. He pulled her to her feet and started leading her across the room to the door, giving the poor girl no opinion on the matter. Before he reached the hallway, Houtarou turned to glare back over his shoulder at the two remaining members in the room.

"I'm borrowing her for a little while." He said in a voice lower than usual and with a tone that allowed no questions.

Satoshi and Mayaka let their mouths hang open a little in shock of his bold actions, speechlessly watching as Eru flashed them a helplessly confused look as Houtarou whisked her away.

As he tugged her along down the hallway, his free hand clenched into a tight fist as he bit his lip. _Idiot! That was probably the worst thing I could have possibly said! I might as well have told them I wanted to take her away to be alone with her for a while. They're probably having a blast talking about me behind my back right about now. I'll never hear the end of it..._

As he continued on with his long, fast strides, Eru stumbled behind him, only just beginning to recover from the initial shock and now rightfully believing she deserved some form of explanation.

"O-Oreki-san..." she panted with the effort of keeping up with him. "W-Where-" but she cut off with a yelp as he pulled just a bit too hard on her wrist, causing her to fall forward.

Quickly snapping out of his reverie of the taunting sure to come, Houtarou was brought back to his senses and came to an abrupt halt, swiftly turning around to wrap his free arm around her waist as she fell into him. She clutched onto his jacket as he helped her regain her balance, finally allowing her a moment to catch her breath.

It was during this moment when Houtarou began hating himself, yet again. Her long hair was frizzed and her uniform was disheveled at the uncalled-for run through the halls, and she was even shaking a little as he held her. _Just how much of an idiot am I? _He wondered. _Obviously the kind who forces a fatigued, overworked girl to race through the school without any warning or justification. _He sighed, forcing down the anger directed toward himself, lest he accidentally let it slip and take it out on the innocent.

Once she found her balance, Houtarou slipped his hand away from her waist and placed it on her shoulder.

"Oy, Chitanda," he said in his normal, more restrained voice. "I'm sorry. Are you okay?"

"Ah..." she blinked up at him once before quickly averting her gaze. "Well... a little..."

"What is it?" he asked, still feeling guilty.

"It's hurts..." she murmured. He followed her gaze and realized that he was still tightly grasping her wrist, which suddenly felt twice as frail. Immediately, he released his fingers from their vice-like grip, freeing her. Her alabaster skin had faint red markings staining it.

"S-Sorry." He covered her hand with both of his, running his fingers gently over her sore skin.

"I-It's fine." She gave a tiny, awkward smile. "B-But Oreki-san, where are we going?" She finally brought herself to ask.

"Ah, right. I should probably explain..." But as he looked down into her eyes, shimmering with a faint, fresh spark of curiosity, his hands froze around hers and he quickly looked away and let go of her before she could captivate him any further. "Y-You'll see." He ended up saying in place of an explanation. "We're almost there, so just come with me for now." He mumbled.

Blinking once thoughtfully, Eru smiled as she replied,

"Yes. Please lead the way, Oreki-san."

The manner in which she so quickly resorted to going along with his will made him feel odd inside, and he briefly wondered if she ever trusted others so wholeheartedly in the same fashion.

Still guilt-ridden from hurting her, Houtarou bravely found her hand again and carefully wrapped his fingers with hers, as a means of silent apology as he began leading her off again. Eru managed to stifle the surprise at his actions and simply quickened her pace a bit to walk along beside him now, knowing that making too big a scene out of their interlocking fingers would only spoil the contact.

Houtarou slowly made his way toward the library, trying to keep an easy pace for her as she tried her best to match his, which ultimately canceled out into a normal saunter between the two of them.

Once the tiled floor had become carpeted, the atmosphere notably changed as they entered the library. Only sounds of faint typing and the ventilation system could be heard, and the few other people present were either studying quietly at the tables by the windows or rearranging books. Overall it gave off a pleasantly cozy feeling, and Houtarou paused for a moment to take it all in before he continued forward.

He lead Eru through several aisles of shelves that towered above them, filled with stories and history one could never experience unless one would bother to read from front to back. He took specific turns at the corners, making it seem like a labyrinth to Eru, and that only he would ever know the way out again.

At last, Houtarou halted in a corner of the library Eru and most other students, never knew existed. The air was different here and smelt of ancient parchment rather than paper. With her keen sense of smell, Eru could tell these books were written with ink from a quill rather than a typewriter, and it seemed to momentarily bring her back in time when she breathed it in. A large window surrounded a small table accompanied by two chairs, giving them a beautiful view of some of the leaf-shedding trees surrounding the school.

Eru seemed utterly fascinated as she took in a long breath while smiling. Houtarou could feel the intense curiosity wafting from her as her hand limply slipped from his. _Crap. This is bad_.

Eru folded her hands before her chest as her amethyst eyes sparkled to light, as if rejuvenated after the past few days of running around like a newborn puppy. She gazed wondrously at the shelves of old books, her interests being pique more and more with every breath.

"Oreki-san..." she whispered. "This is amazing. It's so quaint. It's like a hidden part of the world no one ever knew about except a selected guide."

"What nonsense are you spouting?" He mumbled. _Wait, am _I_ supposed to be the guide? _Houtarou briefly reflected that he thought of himself more as the ruler of this place, but quickly pushed those thoughts aside. As Eru tentatively reached out her fingers toward the spine of one of the old books, Houtarou flashed out his hand to stop her. "Hold on! That's not why I brought you here. You can look around some other time." He stated firmly.

"Eh?" As Eru let her outstretched hand fall back to her side, she tilted her head sideways, looking puzzled. "Then why exactly did you bring me here, Oreki-san?" Upon being asked directly what his intentions were, Houtarou froze up and looked away. Once more, he grasped her wrist and led her over to the table.

"Sit down." He ordered in a somewhat bashful voice. Still clearly quite confused, Eru hesitantly obeyed and took one of the seats.

"Did you want to speak to me in private about something, Oreki-san?" she wondered.

"Hah?" he could not stop himself from blurting out a sound of surprise. Her words instantly caused a blush to form on his cheeks but for some reason he could not pull his gaze from hers. Eru, too, seemed to hear the slightly embarrassing implications behind her words just then, for her face also turned pink. Finally managing to look away, Houtarou corrected her.

"N-No. Nothing like that, really, it's just..." now that he was being forced to say it aloud, he realized he wanted to tell her just to go back to the Geology room and forget everything. But now, with her slightly blushing face and imploring eyes gazing up at him, he knew he was in far too deep to turn back now.

"It's just?" She parroted, titling her head irresistibly to one side. _No, don't do that! _He begged silently. _I can't take it!_

"Just..." he swallowed before finally managing to say it. "Just... get some rest." He sighed.

"...Eh?" A moment of silence passed as she sat there, looking more confused than when he had dragged her down the hallway earlier. "I don't understand what you mean."

"Don't give me that." He growled, accidentally letting his frustrations out on her. "You've been running around for the past several days attending all these events for your family, catering to people all night, and then trying to make up for missed lessons _and_ current lessons all at the same time. Not to mention you're running errands for teachers and doing work for lazy people who just don't want to do it themselves and would rather push the burden onto someone else. I haven't seen you eat much recently either, and during class sometimes you look like you're about to fall out of your chair. If you don't give your body some time to recuperate, you'll end up collapsing sooner or later, and how do you think that would make the people who care about you feel?"

He had unknowingly raised his voice as the words continued to spill from his lips, but now that he had finished lecturing her, he pressed his palm to his mouth.

Eru, on the other hand, looked like a deer in the headlights as she sat with a rigid posture until he had finished. Her eyes were wide and she looked positively frightened, never having experienced such a passionate discourse from him of all people before. Her heart was pounding for fear that he was truly upset with her, and she could not bear that feeling, and she pressed her hand to her chest. When he realized this, Houtarou felt more guilt than ever before as he rapidly tried to account for himself.

"Chitanda," he said, much more softly as he took the other seat across from her. "I... I'm sorry," after apologizing so often, it sounded insincere, but he continued nonetheless. "I'm not angry with you. I promise, it's not that; far from it. It's just... watching you rush around these past few days doing everything for everyone else and nothing for yourself while looking like you were about to pass out from exhaustion... it made me feel so frustrated." As he spoke in a gentler tone, the elements of fright slowly began to fade from her expression. "I guess, what I'm trying to say is..." he fumbled for the right words. "I was _really_ concerned about you."

She gasped when he said those words, flinching ever so slightly as she found her voice again. "C...Concerned? Oreki-san, you were...?" As she repeated the word to herself, she realized how concern for another could easily make one feel frustrated if they could do nothing to help, very much like feeling angry if they were unable to protect the person they loved...

"Yeah. I guess that's been it all along." Houtarou sighed, as if confirming his feelings. "I'm angry at the situation and the fact that you got dragged into other peoples' problems," he reiterated, his fists clenched on the table. "I'm not angry with you, so please don't feel upset." His emerald eyes brushed contact with hers to prove his sincerity.

Before long, Eru smiled with a small nod. "I'm all right now." She beamed, obviously feeling much better now that everything had been said clearly. "I'm was a little upset before, but only because I thought you were mad at me, Oreki-san," as she said this, he looked utterly miserable with himself so she quickly repeated. "B-But I'm fine now."

Then, she slowly reached out and lightly rested both of her hands atop his fists. He looked up in surprise to find his gaze locked with hers. "Thank you for telling me everything, Oreki-san." Her warm palms squeezed the backs of his hands gently, allowing his fingers to uncurl and relax. "I..." she went on, a little muffled. "I... don't know why, but for some reason... I'm so very happy you said that you were concerned for me." She closed her eyes as she beamed a beautiful smile, as two small tears rolled down her cheeks.

Oreki gaped like a fish out of water, temporarily at a loss as to what he should do before he slid his hands from underneath to cover hers. Eru reopened her eyes and continued to smile as he did so. She giggled quietly as the fading sunlight slipped through the trees and slanted through the window in patches of warm light.

After a while, Houtarou reminded Eru why they were there in the first place.

"Try to get some sleep for now before you have to go home and do more chores." He urged her, letting her have her hands back.

"Sleep?" She repeated.

"Just a little nap. Something to make up for your enervation, at least."

"I see..." she murmured. "But how will I wake up in time to get home?"

"Don't worry about it." He shrugged. "I'll... stay here and wake you up when it's time."

"E-Eh? Ah... yes. O-Okay..." she stammered.

Now that she had given a task to do that involved not moving rather than dashing about, she seemed at a loss for how to begin. Knowing she must have felt uncomfortable, Houtarou got up from his seat and began browsing the books. Eru had trouble imagining herself falling asleep with him watching her, so knowing that he would be reading instead gave her some peace of mind.

Folding her arms on the table, she rested her head on top and turned her face to look out the window at the evening scenery. She watched sparrows flitting about in a nearby bush, but the effort it took to follow them about with her eyes was too great for her, and she was asleep within mere minutes.

By the time Houtarou had selected a book, he turned back to find she was out like a light and gave a long sigh of relief. _Thank goodness she's finally getting some rest..._

He sat down across from her and began reading, but soon found himself stuck on the third paragraph of the second page, unable to go any further. No matter how intently he focused on the book, the words made no sense to him in the end, despite his having read it eight times. He kept getting distracted by a certain someone who was now peacefully asleep, similarly to the time she had passed out from eating whiskey chocolate. Her steady, almost inaudible breathing that would have been impossible to hear in any other room of the school was clearly audible to him here. He bit his lip as he closed the book and placed it down on the table. _Damn it. I give in._

Putting his elbow on the table, he leaned forward slightly as he rested his chin in his palm. He watched her with a bored expression on the outside, while wondering exactly why he was so drawn to her on the inside.

Several moments had passed before he realized how intrusive he was being and he attempted to read other books, all of which ended in failure. After putting his eleventh back into its place on the shelf, he noticed Eru's finger twitch slightly on the table. She had not moved at all since she had laid her head down, so it became apparent to him that she must be cold.

He blushed at the cliche-ness of it all, but ended up removing his jacket, considering he had forced her to leave her own behind. Her long, ebony hair pooled over her back and shoulders, falling slightly sideways onto the table; occasionally, a strand would slip down as she breathed, and Houtarou somehow found this extremely alluring.

He gently placed his jacket over her shoulders, knowing that if he woke her, he would be the man with the worst timing in the world for he had hardly any good way to literately justify his actions. Luckily for him, Eru continued to sleep peacefully, even as his hands brushed over her back. He quickly took his seat again and contented himself with staring out the window, as well as the occasional sideways glance at the sleeping girl.

When it was finally time to start heading out, Houtarou called out softly to her. "Oy, Chitanda, time to get up." But she was in such a deep sleep she showed no signs of hearing him. He felt bad for having to wake her, but he knew the librarian would give her an even harsher ear-full if they stayed too much longer. Reaching across the table, he shook her shoulder gently. "Oy, Chitanda."

At first, she just moved limply along with his motions until a small sound escaped her lips. "M...mm..." Slowly, she opened her eyes and turned her head to look dreamily up at him. Houtarou blushed and withdrew his hand, using it to cover his mouth instead. Her hair was arranged in a dangerously adorable bedhead, and her scratchy, tired voice was to die for. "O...reki...san...?" she mumbled.

"We've gotta go soon." He informed her, proud that he had kept himself from stammering.

"Ah... I see..." as she stretched her arms out before her, she made another cute sound that made him turn away more. As she sat up, she noticed why she felt so warm. "Oreki-san, this..." she touched the jacket lightly in a way that suggested how she had been taught to take care of other peoples' possessions.

"Just keep it on until we go back to get yours." He said dismissively. "I don't need it right now." He ensured her before she could protest.

"Okay." A small smile formed on her lips as she pulled his jacket tighter over her chest.

They stood up and Eru cast a sad glance over her shoulder at the book shelves.

"What's wrong?" Houtarou asked.

"I can see why Oreki-san likes this spot so much. It's so peaceful and quiet." There was a hint of regret in her voice. "Ah, b-but don't worry! I won't tell anyone else about it, I promise! And I won't come back ei-"

"Right, well," he cut her off meaningfully. "I'm glad to hear you won't tell anyone else about it. Satoshi already knows, but you're a special case. The books back here are really amazing. Maybe next time you can read some of them." He suggested as he began leading her back through the labyrinth.

From behind him he heard an ecstatic voice in a small whisper that made him smile, "N...Next time!" She breathed delightedly as she hurriedly caught up to him.

As he guided her out, he decided it would be appropriate to ask her how she was feeling now. "Do you feel any better?"

"Yes!" She beamed, quickly lowering her voice when she remembered where they were. "I feel completely rejuvenated!"

"See? Isn't that a nice feeling?" He said, trying to imagine the happiness she would feel as she bubbled with so much energy. "That's what happens when you rest properly."

Eru smiled thankfully at him as she shyly let her left hand find his right. Similarly to how she had reacted previously, Houtarou did not make a scene out of it as he held her hand warmly in return.

"Oreki-san," Eru gazed up at him with a blush on her face, her eyes sparkling with merriment as he looked down at her. "Thank you so much for showing me your secret base!" She gave a small, polite bow.

Houtarou scratched his head with his free hand bashfully before returning her gaze.

"Sure." He smiled.

* * *

**A/N: Hope you liked it! Happy Thanksgiving!  
**

**Please review!**


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